Prompts to stretch the curious Owner Project Manager
An occasional nudge to encourage experimentation and continual improvement.
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OPM.66 Not Young
Having worked in small firms, I’ve always been the young guy. Even that time I went corporate, I ended up being the junior staff member on a major project. That’s fine. I learn more from the experienced folks. So it was a bit odd turning Owner and suddenly becoming an old guy. In the few
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OPM.65 Project Estimates
November and December 2025 turned into a crash course on estimating budgets and schedule. Having gone through the crucible of three CIP seasons with the State of Nevada, I can quickly slam out numbers, but with multiple mega-projects on the horizon at the airport, I wanted to standardize our contingencies and develop a transparent process
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OPM.64 Erasing History
One of our admins retired. After twenty plus years, time to enjoy retirement. We gave her a proper sendoff with a card and a lunch. Over the last couple of years, every single contract ran through her. For an agency all about spending money to build stuff, she was the cog. The next day I
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OPM.63 Tough Questions
I met the Architect and our Agency to discuss a simple fencing project. We addressed logistical concerns and needs of their staff and clients. We covered security concerns, budgets, and traffic flows. At the end of the meeting, the Architect started to ask questions. He stripped away the project requirements. He challenged our priorities and
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OPM.62 Nobody Wants
A few years ago, we ended up at the ER when the girl fell off the couch and hit her head on the tile floor. Fortunately she’s no worse for the wear. Unfortunately, we met an apathetic staff at the hospital. Looking around the waiting room, I saw a bunch of sick kids and worried
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OPM.61 Walmart Stories
My thoughts about this despised big box chain revolves around two stories. Two decades ago, I read an article describing the demise of the pickle giant Vlasic as Walmart’s relentless supply chain squeezed them into bankruptcy. The second was an anecdote by a friend whose sibling works for the company. Walmart employees are not allowed
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Justus Pang, RA
